The race is on to provide electronic financial services using cellphones in emerging markets, as shown by last week’s purchase of Cape Town-based mobile payments company Fundamo by Visa in a R750m all-cash deal, which has ensured a big payday for Fundamo’s backers in return for their early risk-taking.

The big picture here is how mobile phones are promising to take electronic transactions to the world’s estimated 3bn people who do not have access to formal financial services — bringing…